Brief impressions of the anime of the Spring 2013 season

April 23, 2013

As before this is my early impressions of the
spring's crop of new shows, or at least the small number of them that
I've bothered to watch. This time around I've been unusually selective
about the shows that I've tried out, so I've rejected any number of
things sight unseen based purely on premise descriptions and so on.
This may have caused me to miss gems but I haven't really seen any
sign of that so far.

(In particular there's a number of action and adventure series that
I might normally have auditioned but that I'm actively skipping due
to bad reports.)

Hits (so far):

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (2012): A well produced incarnation
of one of the classic stories of the genre. It's high time I watched
some version of this classic and this is by all accounts a good one.
I'm quite enjoying it after two episodes and I expect to keep on
going.

(Yes, I know, episodes have been out on Blu-ray for some time. I'm
counting it as part of this season because it starting to air now is
a large part of what's prompted me to start watching it. I was hoping
that one of the regular subtitling groups would take the airing as
their cue to give it a go-over, but apparently not.)

Suisei no Gargantia: The adventures of a castaway soldier and his
very powerful, nicely deadpan mecha in a somewhat silly world. I
don't have much to say about this besides that it's interesting and
amusing. The male protagonist is no Sagara Sousuke but he'll do.

Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince: This is managing to be both goofy
and serious at the same time without fumbling things. The goofiness
predominates, which is one reason I find it fun to watch; the show
is frequently painting with a relatively broad brush. As takes on
the 'war is hell and so is what people do in it' genre go, I think
this approach is much more interesting than the grim Gundam one.

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun S: My mixed feelings about the first
season of Railgun came roaring back when I saw the first episode of
this, but I remain determinedly optimistic. It'll probably be worthwhile
on the whole once the dust settles. Apart from that I don't really
have anything to say; it's Railgun. I did rather enjoy the second
episode and I kind of wish they'd started the show with it rather than
spend almost all of the first one reintroducing us to the important
characters (as if we could have forgotten them).

Valvrave the Liberator: After two episodes this is a glorious,
epic trainwreck that's utterly impossible to take seriously. Of
course it could be serious about itself and become boring, but
hope springs eternal.

(Now I kind of understand people's feelings for Code Geass,
which was apparently also this kind of epic crazy trainwreck.)

On the edge:

Hataraku Maou-sama!: The comedy doesn't work for me but the plot
that's developed at the end of the second episode is just holding my
interest for now. With that said this may not last long.

(I know, I'm an episode behind right now. This may be a bad sign.)

Miss:

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation: My first draft of these impressions
contained what was in retrospect a bunch of excuses for this show to
explain why I was still watching it. If I have to make excuses for a
show, it's not good and I should admit it to myself (even if I did
watch three episodes sort of in hope).

One of the several strikes against it is that it is trying too hard
to have a steampunk Evangelion feel. The result is more bemusing than
the creators probably intended.

Sadly a miss:

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san: This is probably a fine comedy but sadly
and as usual I didn't find it really funny. It makes me smile every so
often and it's watchable, but without laughs it's not really compelling.
For what it's worth it strikes me as well executed and well paced; if
its humour clicks with you, I suspect that you'll enjoy it a fair bit.

(I actually feel a bit frustrated that I'm not laughing at Muromi's
rapid-fire humour. I'd like to be enjoying it.)

Not for me:

Aku no Hana: I am completely and utterly uninterested in the story,
no matter how impressive or well executed it is.

Shingeki no Kyojin: Everything I've heard says that it's bleak, bloody,
grim, and so on. I've decided that I'm simply not interested in that sort
of thing right now, regardless of how good it is or how much it might be
my kind of thing with less blood and bleakness.

(This specifically includes Karneval, Mushibugyou, Crime Edge,
Red Data Girl, and Arata Kangatari. As always, I may wind up checking
out some or all of them out later due to future good reports, boredom
with the shows I'm watching, or both.)